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The stories we tell....

BunksBunks Australia Veteran
in General Banter
Apparently Mark Twain said "I've suffered a great many catastrophes in my life. Many of them never happened."

I like this quote because it makes me catch myself every time I start telling myself a story.

When someone does something I don't like or agree with (or sometimes even when they don't!), I start to have fantasy arguments with them in my head!

Funnily enough, I always win!! I end up angry and have this mass amount of energy flowing through me.

I used to turn these into reality and actually start undertaking verbal and physical actions based on them.

I'm getting better......I catch myself now and say "Ha! Another story........drop it........"

Can anyone relate?
lobsterZeroblu3reeInvincible_summerToshNirvanazombiegirlBeejStraight_Mankarasti

Comments

  • sovasova delocalized fractyllic harmonizing Veteran
    Bunks this is a wonderful post! =) I can definitely relate! It is nice to smile and bring it back to the moment. Sometimes I laugh out loud when narratives start, most of the time it is very good to laugh.
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    Thank you for the quote!!
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    Nothing wrong with story telling. Tibetan Buddhism is based on it. As part of the narrative we have to change the script.
    You should have 'dharma debates' with yidams. You won't win, they will. Which in a sense is you . . .

    THE END?
    NirvanaBeej
  • ZeroZero Veteran
    Bunks said:


    Can anyone relate?

    Yes...

    I approach it very much as you describe... stop... drop it.
  • blu3reeblu3ree Veteran
    As a child I started this bad habit as well :(. Thankfully I survived an insane childhood to turn it around as an adult. +1 universal love!!!!!!
    Bunkslobster
  • NirvanaNirvana aka BUBBA   `     `   South Carolina, USA Veteran
    Ditto LeonBasin above, "Thanks for the quote."

    Yes, many of us are prone to blow things out of all proportion. I am definitely no exception.

    It sure beats boredom, though, to be quite frank! (No, that's not right thinking, is it?)
  • BeejBeej Human Being Veteran
    yes. i can relate. heh. i've had arguments in my head with people that have already died and moved on. What a silly fool I can be, sometimes. :)
    NirvanaBunks
  • ToshTosh Veteran
    I went to an A.A. meeting last night and during the main share (where a lady explained what she was like, what happened, and what's she's like now) I had to keep dragging my mind off some story and back to what she was saying. Again and again and again and again.

    It's just what I do during meditation. I focus on the breath and then my mind is off somewhere, so I bring it back, and then it's off somewhere, repeat, repeat, repeat.

    I'm sure when I was drinking that there was a 'happy spot' where the alcohol made me present. I remember drinking by the river just 'being' and not running around in my mind.

    It takes some work doing it the alcohol and drug free route!
  • black_teablack_tea Explorer
    Bunks said:

    When someone does something I don't like or agree with (or sometimes even when they don't!), I start to have fantasy arguments with them in my head!

    Funnily enough, I always win!! I end up angry and have this mass amount of energy flowing through me.

    I do the exact same thing -- I can get myself very worked up that way, and I see what I'm doing and it's like, 'what the heck? What is the point of this?' -- especially since I don't really enjoy arguing. Yet it's so easy for me to get sucked into the whole imaginary scenario. I have difficulties with letting go of anger which I'm sure is what this stems from (for me, anyway).
    Bunks
  • karastikarasti Breathing Minnesota Moderator
    I do it too. I used to often do it to the point I'd be driving some where and going through a debate or something in my head, round and round until I perfected it just so I could go back to the person and be all "SEE what magnificence I thought up?" Sometimes I still do it, the thought portion, but I am able now to stop myself from sharing it with others, lol. I do it far less than I used to, but sometimes it sneaks up and I get mad at myself for how many minutes (or longer) I just wasted thinking up such things.

    Thanks for the quote, it's a good reminder!
    Bunks
  • lobsterlobster Crusty Veteran
    Clearly a mind is too dangerous a thing to think with.
    How do we think in the 'no mind' way?
    Just an observation . . . Now where did I put that story induction tool? That watcher, that listener? . . . where is Mr Cushion?

    Are you sitting comfortably? Then we will begin . . . Once upon a cushion . . . :om:
    Bunks
  • chelachela Veteran
    edited February 2013
    I completely relate. The story-telling was really brought to my attention years ago in a class on Literature and Theory. As an English Lit major, I really started putting the pieces together and realizing how much of our "reality" is just the story we are telling ourselves; nobody's reality is the same because it is all made up on an individual basis (one of the reasons we have so much unrest). It was just recently that I began reading and practicing meditation and mindfulness and Buddhism, and rediscovering my story-telling "reality" is like hearing a haunting echo. Personally, I think the reality of this false reality that is perceived within Buddhism is one of the things that attracts me to Buddhism. To remove the layers and layers of stories and to see that there is nothing- it's so beautiful.
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